Wednesday, August 25, 2010

"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition..."

Sorry Dr. King, one hundred and forty seven years later we must face the tragic fact that the Negro might be free, but some folks are not happy that he has his freedom. In fact, some Negroes don't want to be free. Some Negroes are still "crippled by the manacles" of their own ignorance. They are emancipated in body only, their minds are still not free.

On the very place where you gave that speech some forty seven years ago, a man will be coming with a very different agenda, and a very different view of A-merry-ca. He will bring a lot of friends with him, [including some Negroes] and, sadly, they will all be in the same state of mind.

"Since Beck first announced the event, much critical attention has been paid to the date. This Saturday is the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech," a landmark event in the history of the civil rights movement that is also enshrined in the national mythology as one of the finest expressions of American ideals. Beck claims that the scheduling is mere coincidence. But he has eagerly claimed King's legacy, and the meaning of Aug. 28, as his own.

On the May 24 edition of his radio program, he described himself and his conservative-activist legions as "the inheritors and the protectors of the civil rights movement;" liberals, he claimed, "are perverting it." He said he "wouldn't be surprised if in our lifetime dogs and fire hoses are released or opened on us. I wouldn't be surprised if a few of us get a billy club to the head. I wouldn't be surprised if some of us go to jail -- just like Martin Luther King did -- on trumped-up charges. Tough times are coming." Two days later, he reiterated his intent to "reclaim the civil rights movement," since "we were the people that did it in the first place." More recently, he has described the alleged scheduling coincidence as "divine providence"--as God's way of telling Beck he walks in King's footsteps.

If this is true, and a supreme being did in fact decide that Beck should hold his self-branded Tea Party rally in the shadow of Martin Luther King, then we should take this as proof that God has a very dark sense of humor.

Far from being a civil rights icon, Glenn Beck has built his empire and fame in part by being a master divider along racial lines. Especially since the inauguration of Barack Obama on the eve of his Fox News debut, Beck has emerged as the media's boldest manipulator of white racial anxieties, fears and prejudice. His willingness "to go there" has even earned him grudging respect from hardcore white nationalists who usually have little patience for major media.

Most people are aware by now that more than 100 sponsors have fled Beck's program since his June 2009 claim that President Obama was a racist "with a deep-seated hatred of white people." But this is only the best known event in a 30-year career in broadcasting that has been partly defined by racist humor, racially charged venom, and advocacy for far-right foes of the civil rights movement.

Throughout his career in Top 40 radio, Beck was known for his imitations of "black guy" characters and racist tropes. According to Beck's former colleagues in the late 90s, this included mocking unarmed blacks shot and killed by white police officers. Such was the case of Malik Jones, the victim of a controversial killing that took place in 1997.

"After the shooting, Beck sometimes did a racist shtick," remembers Paul Bass, a former radio host and Beck colleague at a Clear Channel station cluster in New Haven. "Glenn did routines about Jones' grandmother being on crack. Generally he made fun of his family and the loss of life--as joke routines."

Beck's racially tinged tirades did not disappear after he switched formats in 1999. During his first talk radio stint in Tampa, he often referred to the Rev. Jesse Jackson as "the stinking king of the race lords." Most recently, Beck has worked to resuscitate the names of famously anti-civil rights figures from the history of his adopted Mormon faith. He has respectfully played tapes of Ezra Taft Benson, who thought Martin Luther King was a communist agent out to destroy the Mormon Church (and who once wrote the foreward [sp] to a book of race hate whose cover illustration featured the severed, bloody head of an African American).

Beck has also implored his viewers to read the "divinely inspired" books of W. Cleon Skousen, another John Birch Society fantasist who believed that the civil rights movement was part of a worldwide Communist (and, later, "New World Order") conspiracy..."[Link]

Dr. King, I don't think this guy shares your vision. You poor man; I just wish that you could rest in peace. All that turning in your grave must be making it hard for you to have another dream.

"one hundred and forty seven years later we must face the tragic fact that the Negro might be free, but some folks are not happy that he has his freedom."

Utter histrionic bullshit. You are such a Drama Queen, Field. There is of course much work to be done in redressing the legitimate historical claims of Black Americans, but to even imply that there is any desire to turn back the clock on Black progress by Beck or anyone not at the furthest extreme margins of society is nothing but crass manipulation. Believe me, there is nothing White America wants more than to able to see Black America standing on its own two feet as an equal partner in building the future. People like you who whine about a group of Black and White Americas rallying for a cuase they believe in only delays the day the sun rises on a post-racial America.

Senator Barack Obama appeared to avoid the issue of race again. This time, during his Democratic Acceptance Speech at Invesco Field in Denver, he referred to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as "the young preacher from Georgia". Obama failed to mention Dr. King's name during his long, boring speech replete with ambitious presidential aspirations. Obama, in my opinion, was blatantly disrespectful to Dr. King – especially considering that his Democratic Acceptance Speech fell on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s memorable "I Have a Dream" address.

Field,Beck's popularity with the idiot class in America is troubling, kind of like demagoguery if it were sold by WalMart. Cheap, widely available and favoured by the rednecks.

I have to wonder if all those "born-agains" don't question his decision to convert to Mormonism as an a adult. It would seem to be a conscious disconnect from their worldview that Mormons are not "Christian". Their words, not mine, for all the sensitive types out there.

All the while, the notion that we must deal with Obama with kid gloves solely because we are happy to have a black man in the White House is absolute nonsense.

Falling in love with a politician is like asking a prostitute to be faithful. We set ourselves up for disappointment when we relate to Obama with extreme emotion, while he deals with us using cold, calculated rationality. Professor West is correct that Obama manages his black critics differently from white ones. The differential treatment is likely because black people don't have enough votes to keep Obama in office, nor enough economic power to change his life the way other constituents can.

As a result, black folks remain at the back of the political bus, without regard to the color of the man in the Oval Office.

Translation: Please protect me from ideas that contradict the safe, comfortable, liberal dogma that I mindlessly and pompously repeat.

How much weight do the actual words and deeds of people (e.g. Glenn Beck) deserve in balancing the claims of mind-reading detractors? Personally, I find Beck tedious, weepy and naive, but trying to paint him as a white supremecist is beyond ridiculous, and says more about the accuser than the accused.

Field, "Dr. King, I don't think this guy shares your vision. You poor man; I just wish that you could rest in peace. All that turning in your grave must be making it hard for you to have another dream."

Well, the first dream was a good one. Unfortunately, over time, Blacks destroyed the potential of that dream. Today, even the younger kids have no idea what that dream was, or who MLK was. In other words, MLK means nothing to them.

I liked the article Massie wrote. He is a pretty sharp guy and knowledgeable of the Christian way of life. Field, you, Hathor, LAC, Mack, Gregory, Kid, and Granny along with the other agnostics and atheists on this blog should try it.

anon 10:18....your statement tells me that you do not have any black friends, are not around many, if any black folk... And, the arrogance and ignorance of suggesting that you know what King means for a whole race of people, strangers to you, is stunning!

And, PLEASE do not respond by suggesting that the actions of some INDIVIDUAL bad actors reflect the behavior of an entire race. If you are gonna go there, I ask you to think a minute and ask yourself, how you would like to be painted with such a broad brush, ie, "you and everyone in your family, your friends, your community, all can be assumed to have the same traits, values and beliefs of Jeffrey Daumer, or Hitler, or Timothy McVeigh, or Bernie Maidoff, or...well, you see what I mean. Ignorant... just plain ignorant!

"Translation: Please protect me from ideas that contradict the safe, comfortable, liberal dogma that I mindlessly and pompously repeat."

That's wingnut logic at it's core.

Just to inform you, "Democrats" were conservatives up until the early 1900's. Then Republicans took over that evil hollow philosophy. I don't care what they call themselves, my beef is with conservatism as a "philosophy" and those who try to spin it as the saving grace of this country. That's simply an evil lie. Today's republicans/conservatives intentionally try to confuse and obscure the history by maligning Democrats/liberals as if yesterdays democrats are today's democrats. Keep it simple. There are really only two political/philosophical forces in this country, liberalism and conservatism. There are different degrees with different names, but that's all there is. The history and contributions of both to America is stark and glaring. When they talk about "American struggles" the battles fought were against conservatism.

Jody, "anon 10:18....your statement tells me that you do not have any black friends, are not around many, if any black folk... And, the arrogance and ignorance of suggesting that you know what King means for a whole race of people, strangers to you, is stunning!"

Dear Jody, you got me. I was just trying to get some attention from you. It's been a long time since you chewed me out. Thank you, I feel much better now. I am glad you are back.

As one of those evil atheists I think Masse's article was an arrogant piece describing his view of a religion that might not be shared by all those who share his faith. I have to ask what has Mike Masse done that would mark him as a good Christian? As far as Black people not knowing about Dr. King anytime you want to go head to head with questions about my frat brother hail me up. I bet I win.

TSC: "Keep it simple. There are really only two political/philosophical forces in this country, liberalism and conservatism."

What gets lumped into the choice between "conservatism or liberlism" gets obscured by baggage associated with these labels. How about freedom or tyranny? Individualism or statism? Free markets or collectivism? Limited constitutional government or instrusive nanny state?

BTW, as we try to choose between ideologies, there other important choices being made. Heidi Montag is considering having her breast implants removed. I wonder if the president could avert this catastrophe. Saving those tits could just save his presidency...

Granny, you are holding resentment against a man of God, called Mychal Massie. Pray for forgiveness for your turning a way from God in order to please people like Field, Val and others on this blog. It will get you nowhere with God.

FWIW, he was right about the Imus incident. Blacks overreacted just like they are overreating to that Mosque and under-reacting to Beck and his supporters on the 28th Aug.

Y'all...somebody please tell me that this is not the same Mychal Massie who thought that the Imus ordeal was lynching. I mean him being a so-called Christian and all he should have been appalled that some old geezer would call some young ladies, of color, in college..."nappy-headed hoes".

I guess Massie doesn't have a high opinion of females, but then his buddy Jesse Lee Peterson doesn't either because ole Jesse said you should beat them and said it on national tv.

Only one Black has the courage and guts to do that....AB. The rest of you are spineless cowards who don't even know how to vote in your best interests.LOL Blacks are such suckers. Anybody can swindle their naive butts.

Oh really and all this time they've been making out like all us black folks are the ones that are criminally inclined. At least that is what they want the world to believe.

Now there is just one problem with that are criminals naive? I mean I would think that in order to be criminals that would take some cunning characteristic on blacks behalf. And you cannot be both cunning and naive at the same time.

Naaah, I'm afraid not, it's not a bald-face lie. Jesse Lee Peterson said it on CNN when he was debating Roland and Malveaux(? Spelling). Said it plain as day.

Please you do not want me to rundown and have me get into Jesse Lee Peterson's associations and background and Massie's either. Although, I do enjoy playing "Polly Want A Cracker" when it comes to those two. I will sing like a bird and enjoy doing it and exposing them for who they really are. Yup, the "no snitching policy" is turned off when it comes to them two.

First, you have no clue to the context of my sidebar remark to Field. I will chalk that up to bad manners.

Second, you've yet to offer any idea that is either controversial or intellectually challenging. Your concern about Field protecting anyone from dangerous ideas is therefore risible. I will chalk that up to ignorance.

"Your concern about Field protecting anyone from dangerous ideas is therefore risible. I will chalk that up to ignorance."

Field, to his credit, does not censor ideas that he disagrees with.

The point was that you are a fraud, repeating, in your typical sneering tone, the slanderous distortions you read in NYT, The Guardian, The New Yorker, etc. What to you seems an obvious entitlement to tell Americans how to live is nothing but self-delusion. Your politics are nothing but fashion.

"Believe me, there is nothing White America wants more than to able to see Black America standing on its own two feet as an equal partner in building the future."

White Americans never have, and possibly never will see their Black counterparts as "equal partners". In fact, the only "partnership" White America wants more than anything in the world is the that old "Master/Servant" paradigm, with Blacks slotted firmly within the latter.

"Well, the first dream was a good one. Unfortunately, over time, Blacks destroyed the potential of that dream. Today, even the younger kids have no idea what that dream was, or who MLK was. In other words, MLK means nothing to them."

Once again, you subscribe 99.9% of the blame to Black America, as though they were solely responsible for the failure of Dr. King's dream to be fulfilled in its entirety. This is the typical ignorance and arrogance that Black Americans have to struggle with. You do not want to empathize with Blacks more than you want to talk down to them, as if they were children under your ward.

Well, at least Blacks have moved up from being mere "property" to being "children". That's "progress", ain't it?

Mack Lyons said..."Believe me, there is nothing White America wants more than to able to see Black America standing on its own two feet as an equal partner in building the future."

White Americans never have, and possibly never will see their Black counterparts as "equal partners". In fact, the only "partnership" White America wants more than anything in the world is the that old "Master/Servant" paradigm, with Blacks slotted firmly within the latter.

You must like that role Mack, because you defend it so vigorously. Maybe the next Black generation will want to be real men.

Yeah, whatever! LOL! When it comes to those two, just call me "POLLY". BTW, those two are not my people. I don't have any OREOS that I would consider as my people.

"Project 21 associations with two conservative organizations, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR). NCPPR posts news and opinion pieces that speak to conservative policy initiatives, including articles by the country's premier apologists for white privilege, former University of California regent Ward Connerly."

"NCPPR is a townhall.com member organization."

"Townhall.com is a vitriolic anti-minority, anti-Obama online rag that makes no pretense at civility or bipartisanship. Their writers represent a Mount Rushmore of right wing political punditry: Anne Coulter, Thomas Small, San Hannity, Michael Medved, Rush Limbaugh, and that handkerchief- headed Aunt Susie of the Asian persuasion, Michelle Malkin."

"A link on the site leads one to another wing nut online site, the WorldNetDaily.com"

"These are the forces with which Project 21 affiliates itself This is the ideology to which it conforms--anti-minority, anti-progressive, antebellum."

"You must like that role Mack, because you defend it so vigorously. Maybe the next Black generation will want to be real men."

You probably wouldn't know anything about what it means to be a real man. Because you were never one in the first place. Besides, your only hopes for the next Black generation is that they become much more amendable and servile to the Becks and Limbaughs of the world.

You do know that your comment is a a tadbit misleading, but somewhat true, huh?

Yes, MLK was a Republican, but at that particular time most blacks were Republicans that is until those in those Southern racist in Democratic Party did that little switcher-roo and infilitrated the Republican party.

"Yes, MLK was a Republican, but at that particular time most blacks were Republicans that is until those in those Southern racist in Democratic Party did that little switcher-roo and infilitrated the Republican party."

A lot of people ignore that fact, especially the Teabagger set who want to call all those "lost" Negros back "home".

It's political reverse polarity writ large. Nixon comes up with the idea of luring disillusioned Dixiecrats to the Republican fold after a Democrat president signs into law a Civil Rights bill, to the utmost displeasure of Dixiecrats and their ilk. Apparently Black folks figured out a bait-and-switch was going on and affiliated accordingly.

bd when will u learn to shut the phukk up? all u do is ramble and ramble when u could easily say the same shit in like two sentences and glad to see a buceta got a hint when folks ignored her fugly ass

Turnabout is usually fair play, but in the case of this nation's finest moments, as in ours, Martin Luther King's, "I Have A Dream Speech," and his subsequent marches to highlight this nation's social injustices, there is neither "fair play," nor a corollary moment, except Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which was mainly instituted to weaken the South, who could send its young men to fight the North, and still maintain its workforce--an advantage that did not accrue to the North.

There're very few moments in white American history that I would, as a black American, either reenact, or celebrate, especially the momentous ones, not the Declaration of Independence (Juneteenth is preferable to the 4 of July), not the construction of the U.S. Constitution, a document that marginalized blacks as well as women, not the completion of the transcontinental railroad that spilled as much blood as sweat in its construction.

I can see why Beck would glom onto Martin Luther King's black legacy: The white legacy is too replete with the suffering, pain, blood, death, and exploitation of blacks, Native Americans, and Mexicans.

As for Mychal Massie, chairman of the National Leadership Network of Black Conservatives-Project 21, his action is particularly egregious for its duplicity.

Rather than simply saying that he, too, believes President Obama to be a Muslim, he spends the bulk of his article detailing why it's near impossible for him to be a Christian, and, therefore, must be a Muslim. His words, to follow, pretty much sums of his muddled position:

"If his actions were Christ-like, people wouldn't question whether or not he is a Muslim.

"This isn't about color or race. There are many persons of color in very public capacities that do not have these questions swirling around them."

Essentially, if you have these "questions swirling around" you, as to whether you're a Christian or Muslim--although there's nothing to substantiate the latter--just the "swirling" alone is sufficient to call your, or Obama's religious allegiance into question.

Massie sums up his piece this way, with his definition of what he terms "A true Christian":

"A true Christian is more concerned about the eternal benefits of service than about endorsing behaviors and teachings that are antithetical to the God of Scripture. God doesn't care what color a person is, nor whether you are a man, woman or child – He cares that we accept His Son, lead others to Him, and live Christ-centered lives that make others want to be like "that" which they see in us.

"Specific to that point, I see nothing in Obama I want to be like."

Without the slightest of evidence, without a modicum of support, not even the pretext that God told him so, Massie reaches the very same conclusion that a large number of other conservatives and Republicans have reached, albeit, by taking us through a maze of doctrinal teachings which specify the nature and scope of salvation, by which one might judge who is, and who is not, Christian.

How startling in its accuracy! One can only stand in awe of the precision of both the conservative and Christian mind, that they both reached the same conclusion, although coming to that conclusion along two separate and different paths--one with no more than a hunch (using intuitive skills), and the other, following, what he'd have us believe is an infallible Christian metric: Obama's Christ-like actions, actions presumably Massie embraces and personifies.

Well, Massie, at the risk of failing your Christian test, as well, I must confess, you, too, could just as well be a Muslim, for I see nothing of your Christian character, evidenced in your article, that I'd want to emulate.

bd when will u learn to shut the phukk up? all u do is ramble and ramble when u could easily say the same shit in like two sentences u must be one of those bad breath having ni**as who keeps talking that refuses gum when offered chrick! ni**a get a hint and shut the hell up!

Mexican Military Finds 72 Bodies Near BorderMEXICO CITY—Gunmen from a drug cartel appear to have massacred 72 migrants from Central and South America who were on their way to the U.S., a grisly event that marks the single biggest killing in Mexico's war on organized crime.

If the US were to legalize drug use, spending on drugs would explode. The piles of money would give criminal importers far more incentive to commit violent crimes to get their goods to market. What would Mexico do then? Of course Canada would get drawn in too.

Or does someone think we would levy tariffs on imported drugs? Of course there are product liability issues.

nty and wapo take obama to task daily. guess you don't read those. and neither would EVER give a $1 million to the GOP or the dems. fox news is a joke as is the rest of murdoch's empire, and everyone with a brain knows it!

Great photo Field. I think Dr. King would swell with pride at what President Obama has been able to accomplish. I strongly believe the two would have been able to work together and had philosophies that are not dissimilar.

"Rich people have always stayed on top by dividing white people from colored people/ but white people got more in common with colored people then they do with rich people/ we just gotta eliminate them. White people, black people, brown people, yellow people, get rid of 'em all/ All we need is a voluntary, free spirited, open-ended program of procreative racial deconstruction/ Everybody just gotta keep fuckin' everybody til they're all the same color"

The important part being the "white people got more in common with colored people then they do with rich people" part. If we stopped allowing pointless racial divisions to be formed by xenophobic and racist people, we would be able to see how badly we're being screwed by the rich ...

It's probably the reason why primarily white, primarily uneducated people have the closest thing to a successful populist movement I've see in the last ten years with the "Tea Party". Of course, it's based mostly on racism and bullshit (where were they when Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, etc were driving up deficits -- nah, best wait for the black guy and call him a Muslim and an interloper. Just wish that the poor and underprivileged in this country could band together around something other than masked racism.

Everybody (including myself) has been jumping on the "what would MLK think or do were he alive today.

Forgetting that at the time of his death MLK was one of the most hated men in America.

Despised by most white Americans.

Resented by the Johnson Administration who were outraged at his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War after LBJ had shephered through Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act.

Attacked by moderate blacks for his stance on the war.

Ridiculed by black militants as a singing and rhyming Uncle Tom.

After the ascension of a new and scary black militancy in the 70s, the POTUS candidacy of Jesse Jackson in the 1980s which scared the crap out of the Democratic Party, and the emergence of Louis Farrakhan as a strong and eloquent voice of the downtrodden and dispossessed black underclass, MLK's message of love and reconciliation began to sound pretty good and much more appealing than what white folks were hearing from a lot of blacks.

So they coopted his message and now you hear rightwing racists like Beck and Dinesh D'Souza along with black mercenaries like Shelby Steele selectively quoting King's "color blindness" remarks to justify killing affirmative action and rolling back the clock on Civil rights gains.

They conveniently forget that King also said "A nation that has done something special against the Negro for two hundred years must now do something special for the Negro."

"Fox was granted a coveted front-row seat in the White House briefing room after the resignation of Helen Thomas..."

Wow, really? I swear Obama and his admin capitulate over and over again for Fox News and they hate him.

Maybe that's what we, African Americans, are doing wrong. Maybe if we start to hate Obama he will stop ignoring us.

11:15 PM ----------------------------

I was just thinking about that the other night, Pres. Obama once stated that he wants to be "pushed", well, I think Charlie "The King of Harlem" Rangel already started it, "The 80-year-old congressman said it was more likely he would protect Obama's dignity over the next two years." after Prez Obama stated he "end his carrer in dignity". Charlie might be right. Pres Obama is pissing off alot of black folks.

america doesn't need it's "honor" restored. it needs its fucking BRAIN restored, because ignorant people like you are running their mouths and working against their own interests. aligning themselves with people who hate you and want you to remain powerless.

you really want to see obama defeated? you think palin/gingrich would be better?

@Uptown, Good Point!! King was seen as a left wing communist crazy at the him time of death, and a complete Tom by the Mau-Mau types in the BP because he didn't believe fire bombing and AK-47 would win our freedom (newsflash, they won't). He was abandoned on by the Left and Moderate allies and demonized by the Right.

Kind of like Obama

(slow down the with the keyboard AB, I'm not claiming Obama is comparable to MLK. Read before you react.)

Its been two years since he took the Oval Office and everyone has either abandoned him or have become more vehement in their attacks against him. The Left are ragging him for not being a firebrand and have pretty take their ball and gone home crying. The moderates are their typical wishy-washy selves and ducking for cover because standing up for principles is just too damn -- principled. And the Far Right claim the man is the Devil himself. And the media essentially amplifies every warped view with little factors of truth in it.

Obama's politics and King's politics are vastly different -- but they also live in different times, have different jobs and completely different life experiences.

But they share one thing in common -- for all the good they do (or don't do) they tick off their friends and enrage their enemies. They were abandoned by their so-called allies in the storm. Love or loathe the man, Obama is politically all alone now. If Obama wasn't much of a praying man before, he's definitely praying now.

steve, i wasn't going to play her stupid game, where instead of arguing AGAINST your point (fox is a joke; gave $1 million to the GOP) she makes YOU try to disprove her point (fox doesn't lie).

notice she totally ignored the payment to the GOP and how no journalistic organization of any integrity would ever have done that.

nope, instead, she reverses the conversation, diverts to her own position and then reverts to her juvenille and predictable personal attacks because she knows she's lost if she ever tried to debate on topic.

she's the laziest, most uncreative and inarticulate debater i have ever met.

let HER prove examples of the MSM fawning over obama. she can't, other than posting the same tired, irrelevant links, over and over.

yawn, yawn, i'm to live in the real world where people talk and think and use their brains.

Here's my point about the whole point about Obama being a Muslim, as Colin Powell said "So What?" We hire the man to run the country, not present offerings in the Temple. He's the President not the Pope. His religion should have little bearing on his capabilities.

And all this Islamophobia just shows how stupid Americans are. As AB pointed out, for Black folks to bash Muslims is to bash one of greatest champions, Malcolm X, not to mention many of our friends,family and neighbors.

hobama owns slums...is causing gangs to BOOOM via poverty...and is funding the PIC as never before to house said slum dwellers/gangs

and fools like uts and maria see hobama as mlk?????

shame!!!!!

Obama is rigging the housing discussion in exactly the same way he rigged the debate over health care, packing the event with corporate executives and corporate-designated think tankers and totally excluding everyone that might not join the corporate consensus. Just as the drug and insurance companies were the only voices heard at Obama's health care summits, so it is only finance capital that talks at his housing discussion. Obama's modus operandi is little different from when the Bush-Cheney regime allowed the oil, coal and nuclear companies to write national energy policy. The only difference is, Bush was denounced for running a rich man's government, while Obama gets a pass. This special dispensation encourages Obama to complete the privatizing mission begun by Republicans. In league with oligarchs like billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Obama administration caused the sale of 13 New York public housing complexes to the bankers at Citigroup. His vision for public housing is to deliver it to the banks. His vision for the millions of foreclosed homeowners is to make sure their bankers are not harmed. This is an administration of the bankers, by the bankers, and for the bankers. A private, and privatizing, affair.

I agree with "LACoincidental". Even if Obama was indeed a Muslim, it shouldn't matter any more than JFK being Catholic.

That being said, why all the screaming about "I know Obama is a Muslim"? MLK preached tolerance and acceptance of everyone -- so aren't you just being a bit hypocritical in bashing a president for what you *believe* is his religion?

And Fox News isn't exactly the best source of intelligent truth (or any truth, for that matter). These are the same jokers who went to court to defend their right to flagrantly lie:

The president is very, very milquetoast. Far too "bipartisan" to be effective in any sort of truly useful way (from watering down stimulus with tax breaks instead of effective stimulus to the atrocious health insurance handout instead of the single payer system we're going to need) -- but the idea that he's an America-hating secret Muslim is borderline retarded. There's nothing to back it up other than the rantings and ravings of self-proclaimed experts who don't seem to know what they're talking about.

Doubtless he has been advised to prove he is "connected" to ordinary Americans by doing things like be seen attending church and taking "regular" holidays. But Obama seems happy to act as a European-style secularist, vacation in Martha's Vineyard and send his daughters to one of America's most exclusive private schools.

Obama does not suffer for self doubt. He has long seemed so convinced of his own virtue that to question his motives is illogical. Increasingly, his pronouncements carry the tone of one who believes those who disagree are stupid or bigoted.

His presidential bid had been based on the power of his life story and his ability with the spoken word. Doubtless he was as surprised as anyone else that he pulled it off. Governing has been altogether more difficult for him and there are signs he is already tiring of it.

Obama's intervention on the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" issue is a case in point. There was no need for him to get involved - the Islamic community centre two blocks from the 9/11 site is unlikely to get built and there was no political advantage in his making a statement.

"malcolm was killed by the NOI the FBI because he became a real muslim...fyi"

Seriously? Do you have any particular proof or reference for this other than anecdote?

From the interview with his killer, it seems as though he was murdered because some saw him as trying to usurp the religious position of others -- but that's not "becoming a real Muslim". The "Nation of Islam" differs from "real Muslims" in that they believe in separatism and racial superiority, from what I can gather from their

When debating Black supporters of President Obama, there often comes a point where even the most fervent Obamites can find no coherent defense for the president’s pro-Wall Street and militaristic policies, when his refusal to even consider race-targeted solutions to race-based problems becomes simply indefensible. Typically, at that point, the Obama supporter will play the psychological card. The advent of the First Black President, they say, has been of incalculable psychological benefit to Black people, especially to Black children, who can now project themselves into an infinity of possibilities because a Black family is in the White House. Hallelujah!

nope, instead, she reverses the conversation, diverts to her own position and then reverts to her juvenille and predictable personal attacks because she knows she's lost if she ever tried to debate on topic.

she's the laziest, most uncreative and inarticulate debater i have ever met.

let HER prove examples of the MSM fawning over obama. she can't, other than posting the same tired, irrelevant links, over and over.

yawn, yawn, i'm to live in the real world where people talk and think and use their brains.maria

yeah shes just a forty seven year old going on four she does petty shit for attention and has absolutely no skills whatsover thank the Lord you've been on the war path lately maria that buceta breath moron needs to be humiliated in the town square!

that warlock hobama's black magic has you so possessed you actually think you have a bro and a blog...dyam!!!

The recent Netroots Nation conference shows that Obama'Laid is easily dispensed in digital form, inebriating millions. What does it matter if 25 percent of Twitter users are Black, when “by 2012 75 percent of the country will have only one Internet service provider offering high-speed broadband Internet?” Clearly, the revolution will not be Twitterized. A real mass movement is needed.

Obama’Laid is a nasty drug of delusion. And like most drugs the method used to ingest it is less an issue than the drug itself. It may indeed be healthier to eat THC than smoke it but both will get you high. Enough alcohol whether in beer or shot form will get you drunk. And whether it comes in discussions of race, war or the economy Obama’Laid still packs a punch. One powerful form of Obama’Laid is certainly found in discussions of Obama’s use of and planned policies for the Internet.

Well, this is what happens when a group becomes so integrated into a society, that major culture milestones are no longer important. For my parents generation August 28, 1963 was a historical date. Peaceful American Citizens traveled to Washington DC to condemn the dehumanization of a certain group of people because of their color. These people lived through slavery, Jim Crow and a separate/ unequal society engineered by a power structure who believed it’s their right/duty to keep America white and pure. We’ve seen this model used many times.

Regarding Restore America, the question is, who has engineer a societal structure in which this segment of society is dehumanize, disenfranchise and living as second class citizens without basic human rights.

Since Obama election, I’ve compare this time in the 21st century to a very bad rerun of the 1870’s Redemption Era.

It’s my generation who failed Dr. King August 28 1963 legacy; because we’re too busy living the good life to point out real hypocrisy. Our silence has allowed the growth of characters like Glen Beck and Restore (Redemption) America schedule for August 28, 2010. It’s a very sad state of affairs.

Come on baby, it looks like you need some new material. Your stuff is playd playd playd. What... do you have your thang on auto-jerk?

Ain't you tired... of yourself!?

Why do you keep buzzing around up in here like you ain't got no damn sense - HUH? You appear to be a lost Sambo. I am going to nominate you for field's sidebar. But see, he'd have to change the title to UCHN... Undercover House Negro.

Stop the nonsense. DR. KING WAS NOT A REPUBLICAN!!!!!!!!!! He stated himself that he was non-partisan so he could have influence within both parties. As UTS pointed out he supported LBJ in the '64 election and criticized the GOP for nominating Goldwater. Go to the King Research Center website and also give them a call to get more info on the man and let's please stop spreading misinformation as if it was truth.

what could make these hexed black fools slur an eternal prince like mlk for a demonic hoax like hobama????

what??????????????????It has long been clear that Barack Obama’s idea of victory required decisively defeating the Left of his own party. Everyone to his left is to be neutralized, while those to his right rate an open hand and endless concessions, the scenario from the very start of his health care “negotiations” with the drug and insurance industries. Victory in the racial arena means an end to race agitation, a Black stand-down, which remains largely in place. Success in war, not pursuit of peace, is his goal, one that will surely elude him, but not for lack of trying.

Obviously, Goldman Sachs and BP considered Obama a “greater good,” in terms of their interests, than John McCain. And they made out like bandits, confirming their assessment of Obama’s immense value to their side in the class war. The question is, how in the hell did lefties conclude that Big Capital’s and Big Oil’s “greater good” candidate was also the progressive side’s fountain of Hope – or even a “lesser evil” – in 2008? Both camps placed their bets on Obama, but only one side could possibly win.

It is the Left that wound up trapped in the cul-de-sac, with every major item on its 2008 political wish list betrayed, sidetracked, mangled or spat upon by Obama and his friends – although, to be fair to the Devil, the Left had often simply imagined they had Obama’s ear or support when such was not even remotely true. On war, for example.

Most devastatingly, Obama and his Democratic legislative allies have successfully shielded their Wall Street masters from anything worthy of the name financial reform. This means finance capital and its “shadow,” derivatives-based economy (nominally, ten times bigger than the “real” global economy) remain beyond the reach of meaningful public intervention by conventional methods. With the air knocked out of mainstream reformers’ bony chests, Wall Street is poised for a Great Offensive against the political and social infrastructure of the United States.

You're black, you're a BLACK woman, and your sexual preference could find you further down the pecking order. AND, you're an atheist. girl, you better look around and close your mouth.

Seriously, I know you've felt the sting of prejudice, so, can you see how you are playing yourself?

Your intention my be honorable but it seems to me that you're walking over dollar bills to get to the shiny pennies of stroking your ego.

Again, where would you fit? Well, at the rate you're going you could be their black pinocchio. But that might not work for you. Every time you told a lie or said something they didn't agree with, your nose would grow. In time, that stuck-up nose of yours would be longer than your extentions. Then, who'd want to be around a black women with a 10ft nose?

Then again, with a nose like that you could really sniff the ass of your ambiguous candidate.

Sorry I got here late in the day and some 120 folks opined ahead of me, but check this out..."Know thy enemy"..Glenn Beck IS NOTHING NEW among the usurping white male trash preying on black folks! He is simply the 21st century version of the Jim Crow types that profited after the Civil War with their touring minstrel shows featuring strong lines of real life clowning cooning darkies, who jigged on cue for a few scraps of bread.

Beck has also been preceeded by Al Joelson, Amos n' Andy. He was also preceeded by the white man who bought up some Sheikh costumes from a theater company that went out of business. He looked around up in New York's Harlem for a "colored man" that he could dress up and tout as a "the new prophet out of Asia" who is come to save the poor brothers and sisters of New York. By chance he found a "colored" gentleman by the name of Elijah Poole and set about displaying about him in full Arab dress throughout the area. The white man did a cary show routine asking for funds on behalf of the "Prophet" to help bring peace and healing to folks. However, due to the daily meager donations the white man soon abandoned his religious scam, leaving Poole behind with the elaborate sheikh wardrobe. Poole however kept on with the show and over time he began to attract serious followers due to quotes from the Q'ran in his short speeches. This was the start of the Black Muslim movement in America. I hope someone tells Becky that he better not start broadcasting shit on the Nation of Islam (the American black Muslims), cause these brothers definitely don't play. I know Beck lives in New York but he sure don't wanna be on no tour of the Audubon Ballroom up in ol' Manhattan.

As I mentioned before Glenn Beck is just another incarnation of these white hustlers, and his latest shtick is to prey on the memory of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and folks IT IS WORKING! Unfortunaely these low-life white con artists can see the possibilty of making money on anything that stirs people's emotions. If you can get them mad, there's a buck in that. If you can get people glad, then there's a buck in that. If you can get people sad.... you get my drift.

BTW, did you know that the major ownership in the FOX network, Glenn Beck's sandbox, is held by a Saudi Prince. He's a brother that could easily pass for either me or Ben Vereen, but just don't tell his royal highness that! This just shows that IRONY comes in all colors, check that out in Ebonics!

Like all of the white con men who preceeded him, Glenn Beck doesn't give a shit about black people, white people, political people, Sarah Palin people, you name it. ALL HE WANTS IS THE MONEY, and the much mo' money the better. So save your anger for something real, don't waste it on Glenn Beck cause all he gonna do is take your attitude and your pissed-off-anger and turn it into ways to make his self much mo' money on yo' ass.... Nuff said.....

"Like all of the white con men who preceeded him, Glenn Beck doesn't give a shit about black people, white people, political people, Sarah Palin people, you name it. ALL HE WANTS IS THE MONEY, and the much mo' money the better. So save your anger for something real"

I've heard all that but what black people had damn sure better understand is that we are still Americas scapegoats.

It's not a coincidence that many of America's most recognized media figures employs black baiting as a main feature of their schtick?

Limbaugh, Beck, Stern, Imus...etc...

Want a guaranteed shot at the NY Times Bestseller list?

Write a pseudo scientific screed about the depravity of black "culure" or black intellectual inferiority.

Wanna run for President?

One of your main task will be to make a formal dis toward the black community.

Whether it be Reagan and his "welfare queen with a cadillac" stories or kicking off his campaign with a States Rights rally in Philadelphia, MS, Bush Sr. and Willie Horton, Clinton and Sista Soulja, Bush Jr and formal kissing of Bob Jones's ring and even Obama wagging his finger at black men in a Baptist Church, dissing black folks is a rite of passage to the White House.

you know you get death threates every time you spit such lewd rape fantasies you reject letch!!!

does your wife know your speech is garbled because you are choking on hobama?

u make that minstrel exit like a shredded sambo!pieced out!

Dr. Clayborne Carson, director of the King Institute at Stanford University, and one of Smiley’s interviewees for the PBS program, said he “wondered sometimes at these Martin Luther King celebrations, if King would be invited.” Certainly King, with his principled anti-war position and opposition to concentrated economic power, would not be one of the president’s favorite people. But then, if King had lived, if the mass movement had not been dismantled by internal and external forces, the seeds of radical change might have been planted deeper, and Black folks might not have been bamboozled two generations later by Dr. King’s political opposite, the war mongering, Wall Street-loving, won’t lift a finger for Black people president, Barack Obama.

King saw the struggle for justice as indivisible. In the same fashion, “the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism,” as King described them at Riverside Church, combine to undermine the progress of humanity. “Tavis Smiley is clearly aware that his focus on King’s Riverside speech represents a challenge to Obama’s war policies.”Aside from the battle for equal Black citizenship status – which was already essentially won by 1967 – the great issues facing Black America remain much the same: imperial wars; raging racism, especially in criminal justice; and vast economic inequalities. On these issues, there is very little political or moral common ground that Dr. King and President Obama could share.Less, I believe, than the commonalities shared by King and Lyndon Johnson – including on how to confront institutional racism

CareyCarey, I just read your blog post about Tooter Turtle and The Wizard (as a allegory for the mass of Obama-hating folks in the Net Roots Blogosphere). First of all, Tooter Turtle and The Wizard? Damn, that's old school geekiness. I can't remember the last time I saw that show.

Second, I see your point -- some folks who think they know better than the President don't understand our current political climate. For some know-it-all cynic with a PhD (and few folks who completion of even high school is doubtful) in whatever to assume they know better or are more moral than the President.

I also liked the Chris Rock photo -- brother finally found a good dentist.

Steve, I can see it both ways. Either these whites will run for the fastest commuter train to Virginia or start shooting themselves. Remember the Tea Party faithful have been told to avoid any Negro enclaves in DC (that's like trying to avoid bird shit in a chicken coop, but God bless them).

If any young brothers do show up, I pray its the former -- these white folks back down and go home. The last thing we need is a race war started in the middle of the nation's capital.

For some know-it-all cynic with a PhD (and few folks who completion of even high school is doubtful) in whatever to assume they know better or are more moral than the President.

I disagree with this. I don't think you have to agree with the obviously deranged racists, mentally disturbed folks, or people whose expectations were too high to think that the President has made some mistakes and done things wrong. In short, IF someone was screaming, hooting and hollering about Bush policies but is quiet now that Obama has embraced many of those same policies or tells detractors that they just don't understand or have to give Obama time, such a person is wrong. They are also a hypocrite.

I know UTS..I know - BUT DAYAM! I look at his show a couple of times a week to see what what kind of shit he's throwing up against the wall. The dude is a self righteous pompous ass who needs to be chin checked, like yesterday, and that goes for his minions too. I'm not a religious dude but I think I need to pray.

Beck is a nut and sap and one day soon I expect him to have total mental breakdown on live television. His prominence is what happens when millions of people willingly give up critical thinking as a way of life.

Yeah man(Tudor Turtle), I had to reach back for that one :-). I actually use the Wizard's phrase when I see someone(a friend) get so far out in a stream/mess (debate or whatever) that they have nowhere to go. Yep, it's one of my favorite lines... Twizzle Twazzle Drazzle Drone, time for this one to come home

LAC: "Second, I see your point -- some folks who think they know better than the President don't understand our current political climate. For some know-it-all cynic with a PhD (and few folks who completion of even high school is doubtful) in whatever to assume they know better or are more moral than the President"

Man, I can't tell you how pleased I am that you caught that. I did another whole post on "side-walk cynics" with political degrees.

There is a reason that President Barack Obama's personal files have been sealed off from the public by executive order that go well beyond the mere fact that he is not a natural born American citizen, and therefore legally ineligible for the position. This reason has recently come to light in a series of exhaistive and meticulously documented reports from investigative journalist Wayne Madsen, a former NSA employee.

In the articles Madsen uncovers CIA files that document the agency’s connections to institutions and individuals figuring prominently in the lives of Barack Obama, his mother, father, grandmother, and stepfather

"In short, IF someone was screaming, hooting and hollering about Bush policies but is quiet now that Obama has embraced many of those same policies or tells detractors that they just don't understand or have to give Obama time, such a person is wrong. They are also a hypocrite"

It appears you're rationalizing foolishness. Who said anything about those that ranted on Bush - huh??

Let's go a little deeper in your comment (because you didn't). I mean, what specific policies are YOU talking about? If you can't define them, then you have in essence plugged yourself into the core of LAC's comment. To rant about something you know little about is exactly where LAC and I are directing our light.

And tell me, is a hypocrite wrong?

I mean, if his actions are sometimes different than his words, is his words wrong or his actions? Besides, I choir boy can't lead me out of a major storm.

Grady, are you merely defending the right to voice your opinion? That's cool, however, there's a responsibilty that goes along with your opinion... don't you think?

The opinions of obscure newspaper columnists that gatekeeper editors choose for their readers has become more and more irrelevant over the years. More people are turning away from the mainstream press and are now getting their news from the alternative media instead.

Nawl Ms. Banks, let me bake this bread. Baby girl, lets get it right. The following IS what "I" said

Look, I am all for contructive feedback, but if the feedback is nothing but gripes and moans, sticks and stones, porous opinions and bitches in droves, I don't view that as constructive feedback. That's more akin to the negro-lites real message of "replace Obama". Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice....

Okay, one mo gin for all the circle jerks. Do you really think you are making him accountable by mimicking the words of his arch rivals?! I mean, really? Do you think you're making him accountable by sitting in blog with a bunch of negros that acquired their political science degrees on-line or off the 10 o'clock news? I mean, what's accomplished by listening to rants, half-baked solutions, haters and naysayers - huh? Surely that's not making him accountable. That's nothing more than a game of spades or dominoes. Any negro can sit around a table and talk trash. I mean, making him accountable??? Tell me, tell me exactly how you're doing that? I mean, considering the un-focused willy-nilly rhetoric that's the final product of most political blog discussions, I find it hard to believe it's a package that would make the president accountable. Having said all of that, would your words move people toward Obama or away from him? Don't duck now, but the BIG ASS ELEPHANT is still in the house. If not Obama than who? Think about it. Play the story to the end.

THAT'S WHAT I SAID! Read it there, you'll find it fair.

You can rant all you want. But what's your purpose? Better yet, show me your rewards? What are you accomplishing???

Po Miss Banks, you're floundering, look they say fools go where wise men tread not, and although I've done some foolish things in my life, I am not trying to be a full time fool. Maybe I should look into this criticism thang of yours.

Lets see, where is my dictionary? Here it is... CRITIC: A person who indulges in faultfinding and censure. criticism: the act of analyzing and making judgments 2. a review expressing such analysis and judgement. criticize: to analyze and judge as a critic.

Wait a minute, I think Ms. Banks has confused the word critic with being a fool time cynic. Lets see... cymry... cynewulf... cynic, here it is: A sneering, faultfinding person; especially, one who believes that all men are motivated by selfishness.

Cynical: distrusting or contemptuous of virtue in others; sneering; sarcastic.

Ooooooh noooooo, did I hear the name of Ms Alica? If I am going to find fault and then write a qualified analysis -filled with criticism - it's only right that I know what I am talking about. Damn, I almost made my move to soon. I could have found myself being somebodies special kind of fool. And, who wants to be a sneering, sarcastic, distrusting, faultfinding, person? That's not the way to constructive criticism. That's CYNICISM!

Carey I would have to start my own blog to detail all the mistakes I think Obama has made and all the things he's done wrong. Of course he's done some things right as well. Nobody (well few people) are all bad.

The larger point is that like any other President or any other man Obama is subject to criticism. Some of that criticism will be well founded and sober; some of it will be inane ramblings. That's what goes with sitting in the Big Chair.

As far as my specific critiques where I think Obama is dead wrong I'll just list three.

A) The President has overseen an expansion of a policy of drone attacks and assasinations around the world-most critically in Pakistan and Yemen. Not only do I believe this is unconstitutional as it makes a mockery of separation of powers and further entrenches the President as a Caesar, I believe that it's immoral and pragmatically bad for us in the long run as the innocent victims of American drone attacks in Yemen and Pakistan will no doubt have friends and relatives who will wish one day to make us feel as they feel now.

B) The President flip-flopped on FISA and warrantless wiretapping. Now that he's President, Obama thinks such practices are good things. I don't think government surveillance sans warrant is ever a good thing no matter who's in charge. The Administration has gone beyond Bush arguments in claiming executive power to override and ignore pesky little things like the Bill of Rights.

C) The Obama Administration has compiled "hit lists" of people it intends to kill and for the first time has confirmed that American citizens are indeed on that list. Again, Obama is not a king. In America, no matter what a citizen is alleged to have done the President should not be able to order his death.

But let's not pretend that most people on the liberal side of the spectrum wouldn't have been up in arms were it George Bush doing these things. Because when he did, they were. To the extent they are quiet or supportive now because it's their guy in charge, they are hypocrites.

how noble and ironic that you would dare protest my deserved political jabs at hobama while cynically and sarcastically threatening me with your very twisted suicidal fantasies about orally jabbing/raping me with your own tiny organ...you psycho lying hobama nazi felonious fool!!!

shady: i'd argue that A and C are the same thing, i'd also argue that liberals ARE up in arms about the drone killing of U.S. citizens and civilians. don't forget: this was happening under bush, he just hid it better.

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